A look back at the Giants' 24-20 loss to the Steelers

Eli Manning and the Giants were dealt a blow by the Steelers.William Perlman/The Star-Ledger

After the dust had settled on the Giants’ 24-20 loss to the Steelers, here was one bit of good news for the team: The entire NFC East lost this week, so the Giants did not lose any ground in the division.

But the talk in the locker room Monday was about the “pain of regret,” over a missed opportunity this week -- on one level, to uplift the region after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, and on a different level, to close out a game that the Giants had within their grasp.

The Giants were on Pittsburgh’s 4-yard line late in the third quarter, with the chance to take a 14-point lead. Instead, their red-zone concerns popped up again, and they settled for a field goal.

"It could’ve been 24-10," coach Tom Coughlin said. "That might not have been enough, but it might have changed the way the game was played as well."

Even so, the Giants had a 20-10 lead with 16:32 to play – and couldn’t hold on for a win.

The defense gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Steelers. And the offense would not pick up another first down for the rest of the game, turning in three three-and-outs in the fourth quarter.

“We lost a football game we thought we could’ve won,” Coughlin said. “We’ve got to re-group, go forward and do a better job of preparation this week. Get our focus back, get our game back.”

THE STRONG SIDE

Takeaways. The Giants defense delivered a few of those big plays that can change the course of a game: DE Osi Umenyiora’s forced fumble/LB Michael Boley’s return for touchdown, and CB Corey Webster’s interception of Ben Roethlisberger. Webster made a nice play to recover after WR Mike Wallace got a good release on him. Running to catch up, he saw Wallace turn for the ball, and Webster turned right in front of him, in excellent position to make the play. I thought Webster did pretty well containing Wallace for most of the game, though the speedy receiver did break free for the 51-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Giants were in man-to-man coverage across the board on that play, S Antrel Rolle said today on WFAN, and Wallace used his leverage away from Webster. When Rolle tried to close in on Wallace, he and Webster tripped each other up a bit and missed making the stop.

The pressure on Roethlisberger was pretty solid for most of the game. The Giants sacked him four times: Two by Justin Tuck and one by Jason Pierre-Paul (who each handily beat RT Mike Adams for one sack apiece), plus the strip sack by Umenyiora. Pierre-Paul came close to swatting the ball from Roethlisberger a couple other times, and on Roethlisberger’s interception, DT Linval Joseph was closing in on him from behind. Tuck batted down one of Roethlisberger’s passes, and Rolle also knocked one down while coming on a blitz.

P Steve Weatherford made a terrific stop on Emmanuel Sanders’ 63-yard punt return in the fourth quarter. An otherwise terrible play for the Giants, Weatherford rose to the challenge when facing the slippery receiver one-on-one in the open field, managing to get him down and not get juked to save a touchdown on the play. CB Michael Coe followed up by making a terrific stop of the Steelers’ fake field goal try on that possession, sniffing it out and not giving up the edge, a pair of special-teams plays that could have could have been difference-makers.

THE WEAK SIDE

The passing game was off, as we detailed in today’s article. One other thing I noticed while watching the film: The time from snap to release on passing plays was up this week, to an average of 2.86 seconds, per my unofficial timing. QB Eli Manning had been getting the ball out very quickly earlier this season. Before the Cowboys game, football statistics website Pro Football Focus said his average time from snap to release this season was 2.56 seconds. That’s a big difference, and something Coughlin may have been referring to when he said “We’ve got to get back to drop back, throw it. Let’s get the game going.”

This is all that has to be said about the run defense: Steelers third-string RB Isaac Redman amassed 147 yards on 26 carries, an average of 5.7 yards per carry. A major culprit was tackling. Coughlin said he counted 12 missed tackles in the game on defense. By my unofficial count, Redman gained 74 of his rushing yards after first significant contact. On one 12-yard run in the second quarter, Redman simply bounced off a defender right at the line of scrimmage, then moved outside for his big gain. And a few of the misses came in bigger situations: On a third-and-2 late in the fourth quarter, Umenyiora had a chance to wrap Redman up at the line of scrimmage, but he squirted free for an 8-yard gain, setting up the Steelers’ winning score. On the Steelers’ last possession, when the Giants needed a stop to get the ball back, Redman evaded a tackle attempt by Joseph about one yard past the line of scrimmage and picked up 28 yards on the run, allowing Pittsburgh to run out the clock.

Coughlin said RT David Diehl did “OK” in his return to the starting lineup (and he said that in a positive way), but Diehl had a few critical miscues. None was bigger than giving up the strip sack to LaMarr Woodley, ending the Giants’ last possession of the game. “He got a good jump on the snap and got my edge,” Diehl told Star-Ledger colleague Jorge Castillo after the game. “The positive things definitely outweigh the negatives, but we lost the game and of course you could say, 'Blame it on me.' I’m a man, go ahead, blame it on me.” Diehl also had a false start at the end of the first half, right another false start by TE Martellus Bennett, which backed up the Giants’ drive and led to a 51-yard field goal Lawrence Tynes missed short. It also looked like Diehl had a hand in the other sack of Manning: Diehl and LT Will Beatty both struggled to hold off their rushers, causing Manning to move around into the free rushing lane of Lawrence Timmons.

CB Jayron Hosley has hit some rookie bumps the past few weeks. After drawing two late flags against the Cowboys, his penalty this week had a hand in deciding the game. The Giants had stopped Redman on a third down late in the fourth quarter, but Hosley had stepped over the line of scrimmage before the play. The down was replayed, and the Steelers converted, keeping their drive alive for the game-winning touchdown. Hosley also struggled in the slot at times. When the Steelers converted a third-and-9 later in the fourth quarter, preventing the Giants from getting the ball back, it looked like Hosley lost Sanders in coverage to yield a 16-yard catch.

BETWEEN THE (WHITE) LINES

LB Mark Herzlich, starting for Chase Blackburn (hamstring), played 69 of 70 defensive snaps as well as 20 special-teams snaps. He didn’t come off the field for nickel packages, as some had speculated. That could have something to do with the absences of Keith Rivers (calf) and Jacquian Williams (knee), the speedy linebackers often used with Michael Boley in nickel situations. Herzlich seemed to be caught in a tough match-up in coverage on Sanders’ 4-yard touchdown, but made a few nice stops and said he was in the right spot most of the time.

RB Andre Brown missed the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, but had been receiving a significant portion of plays until that point. In the first three quarters of the game, Brown played 14 offensive snaps, to Bradshaw’s 28. Bradshaw finished the game with 37 snaps.

WR Rueben Randle played seven offensive snaps and was targeted three times, for no catches. Most interesting is when those snaps came: He replaced Victor Cruz on two plays early in the first quarter. He also took a few snaps in the two-minute offense at the end of the first half instead of Domenik Hixon. Randle was also the No. 3 receiver and the target on a key third-and-1 in the third quarter, when he couldn’t come down with Manning’s throw on the fade route. “Based on the week before, we felt like he could contribute more,” Coughlin said. “And we still do. He’s got to make the plays when he’s put in position to do so.”

The Giants planned to use a three-safety look with Rolle, Stevie Brown and Kenny Phillips, but Phillips’ knee injury kept him out a fifth straight game. They used a couple snaps of a three-safety look -- unofficially, just three -- with Tyler Sash in place of Phillips.

UNDER REVIEW

There was a run of very close calls by the officials in the first half, starting with a borderline pass interference flag on CB Keenan Lewis vs. Hakeem Nicks, giving the Giants 41 yards. Lewis was flagged again for a 46-yard interference call just before halftime, that one much more blatant.

Pittsburgh S Ryan Clark’s hit on Cruz in the end zone, which gave the Giants a fresh set of downs for Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run, was definitely not a “blow to the head” as announced by the officiating crew. Clark hit Cruz lower, in the ribs, i.e. the reason Cruz sustained what was announced as a rib injury. The hit may have been a little late, as Manning’s pass had already hit CB Ike Taylor in the hands and was falling to the ground -- although the ball had not quite hit the turf yet when Clark arrived, so the play was still alive.

Guess you win some, you lose some. Former Star-Ledger colleague Mike Garafolo made this astute observation on the film: On Manning’s first-quarter pass to Cruz that was tipped away by a blitzing Lewis, the refs missed S Will Allen shoving Cruz to the ground well after the pass fell incomplete. Cruz popped up, looking for a flag.

Umenyiora’s forced fumble was another close call. But Umenyiora did jar the ball loose before Roethlisberger’s throwing motion began. It didn’t look like Roethlisberger ever regained control, thus the fumble ruling rather than incomplete pass.